I would dissuade you from using All Temp Service of Hackettstown NJ for your plumbing and HVAC needs. I wrote the letter below to All Temp and called several times for a followup. I received no response whatsoever, though their answering service knows me well now.

My flight got in from EWR at 4:30am EST. There was an electrical problem on the plane so they had to turn around and get us another one. We suspected something was wrong when they had a lot of trouble playing the “seat cushion as floatation device” video. They had to close and open the TVs from the ceiling 3 or 4 times and the sound kept not working. We knew there was a problem when the captain came on and said, “We’re probably going to be turning around. We’ve just about finished troubleshooting the electrical problem…” People shouldn’t be “troubleshooting” at 10,000 feet! A flight attendant came on a couple times with an unsure note in her voice. That didn’t help things any.

We landed a bit heavy (I’m guessing because we were heavy with fuel). I wasn’t really unnerved until I saw the 2 fire trucks and assorted support vehicles at the end of the runway. Getting off the plane, the right side of the cabin was dark and the left side had emergency lights on. I’m guessing that if both generators had failed, we might have had Trouble.

We got off and found another plane at the opposite side of the terminal. I watched our new flight crew read some sheets of paper very intently. I’m guessing it was what they should do on this new plane in case of a water landing or somesuch. Joy.

We got in the air at 10pm, 4 hrs late. Got in at 1:30am. The baggage carousel broke after spitting out 1/2 the bags so we switched to another one. Joy. I found a van service (we don’t have these in NJ). For $15 they took me right to my door. A cab would have been $30. After me, they dropped off a few other folks in SF.

I dropped into blissful San Franciscan sleep on my matressless floor at 2:45am (that’s 5:45am for you east coasters)

My flight leaves for San Francisco in 16 hours. My parents will be away from their house for a while so I suggested they turn off the water main while they are away. Last winter the heat went out; I got it fixed but if no one had been there, the pipes would have frozen and the downstairs would have become a small frozen lake (like my neighbor’s was last winter!)

So I went over to shut off the water main in the basement with my dad to try things out. I found the pressure reducing valve and a shutoff valve between it and the outside. As I turned it off, I noticed that it was starting to leak. By the time it was mostly off, the water was a mostly constant stream. Once off, it was down to a once every 2 seconds drip. I tried opening a turn and closing it to clear debris but each of the three times I did it, the water leaked a little faster while it was open.

Now there is a problem! It’s possible that if I open the valve all the way, it will seat itself and stop leaking. (that’s not the problem). It’s also possible that if I open the valve all the way, the valve will break completely, leaving me with an unstoppable torrent of 75 PSI water!

Since it’s 1 am, I figured it was best to shut off the valve and put a bucket under it til morning. Tomorrow I will call the property owner’s association to see if there is a shutoff valve outside the house. After that, I may call a plumber or (dare I?) try opening the valve all the way.

I heartily welcome any suggestions!

update Before I woke up, my dad turned the water on full, guessing it would be alright (a wild guess, seeing as we both agreed to leave it off last night). I’m glad I didn’t get a morning swim. Now the high pressure valve only drips once a second. Now what? Follow the same plan?